Althea Korea Skin Relief Calming Cream Review, Swatch, Price

Althea Korea Skin Relief Calming Cream is true to its name. I’ve found this to be a very reliable cream that I can use in any occasion, and regardless of my skin’s condition. It is designed with 5 soothing ingredients (Eclipta Prostrata Leaf Extract, Amaranthus Caudatus Seed Extract, Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Ulmus Davidana Root Extract, Ficus Carica Root Extract) to strengthen the skin. The key ingredient is Panthenol, which keeps skin hydrated. Here is my review: 

Packaging and Scent: This comes in a clean, streamlined tube with a flip-top cap. The hard part is that I’d have to cut it in half to be able to get all the product. But the nice part is that I think it’s more hygienic this way, compared to if it were dispensed in a tub. In terms of fragrance, it has a sparkly citrus fragrance. I find the fragrance to be refreshing and invigorating. 

Product Texture: This is a runny cream with an emulsion-like texture. It’s not a thick cream, like what we’d imagine with whipped cream or icing. It’s also not mousse-like. It’s really a lot like emulsion or lotion. This absorbs quite quickly because of this kind of texture, and I also like that this doesn’t feel hot or heavy to use even when the weather is hot. This doesn’t have a sticky feel, so I also like that part. 

Hydration vs. Oil: This cream is somewhere in the middle of hydration and oil, given that it’s a cream that has both shea butter and seawater. I personally have dehydrated oily skin, so I need something that’s hydrating (i.e. adds water) and something that doesn’t add any further oil to my skin. Between water and oil, this leans a tiny step more towards oily, but in my usage, I have never felt that it was uncomfortably oily. I generally found it to be hydrating. 

Skin Texture Refinement: This is neutral. I actually didn’t see any skin texture improvement when I was using this, but it also didn’t worsen my skin condition. Whenever I had acne, this wasn’t the type to make the acne go away. I still had to use acne targeted products. But this was also true to its identity and was soothing enough to not make my acne worse. It would also calm my skin when I’d have irritation or blemishes. 

Overall Feedback: For those who are looking for a cream that can offer stability, this is a good cream to go for. This cream keeps skin hydrated without making it too oily, and helps to not worsen any acne or irritation. I have used this after having fractional lasers done, and found this to be soothing and calming to use when my skin was still healing. This is perhaps special because this is not marketed to provide any crazy results in whitening or pore reduction or some other result, but instead, it steadily works to skin healthy and hydrated over time. 

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Here’s the packaging: 

And this is how the texture looks like: 

Althea Korea Skin Relief Calming Cream retails at Php560 for 80mL. Get Php250 off your first order!